The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-10-10
4 POETS YOUTH.
Whitticr's First Published Poem and
the Friend IL Brought Him.
October st. Nichola-.

Fflend II Brought Him.
October st. Nichola-.
Whittier began TO rhyme very
early and kept his secret from all
except his oldest sister, fearing that
his father, who was n prosaic man,
would think he was wasting time.
lie wrote under the fence, in the at
tic, in the barn--wherever he could
escape observation; and as pen and
ink were not always available, he
sometimes used chalk and even
charcoal. Great was the surprise OF
the family when some of his verses
were unearthed, literally unearthed,
from under a heap of rubbish in n
garnet; but his father frowncd upon
these evidences of the bent of his
mind. not out OF kindness, but be-
cause he doubted the s~uiliciency of
the boys education for a literary
life. and did not wish to inspire him
with hopes which might w be
fulfilled.
His sister had faith in him, never
theless, and, withou. his knowledge,
she sent one Of his poems to the
editor of the Free Press, a news
paper published in Newburyport
Whittier was helping his father to
repair n stone wall by the roadside
when the currier flung a copy of the
paper to him, and, unconscious that
anything of his was in il, he opened
il and glanced up and down the col
umns. HIS eyes fell on some verses
called The Exile's Departures"
Fond scenes which delighted my youthful
existence,
With feelings Of sorrow l bid We adieu-
A lasting adieu; for row, dim In the dis
lance,
The shores Of Hibcrnia recede from my
view.
Farewell to the ellis, tempest beaten and
gray,
which guard the loved shores of my own
native land:
Farewell to the village and s~ail-shadowed
bay,
The forcst-crowned hill and the water.
washed strand,
His eyes swan; 1t was his own
poem, the first he eve had in print.
"What Is the matter with theeg''
his father demanded, seeing how
dazed he was; but, though he re-
sumed his work on the wall he could
not speak, and he had to steal a
glance at the paper again before he
could convince himself that he was
not dreaming. Sure enough, the
poem was there with his initial at the
foot of it-W,, Haverhill, June /,
1896" and, better still. this editorial
notice: ''lf w, at Haverhill, will
continue TO favor us with pieces
beautiful as the n inserted in our
poetical department of today, we
shall esteem 1t a favor
The editor thought so much OF
''The EXile's Departure and some
other verses which followed il from
the same hand, that lie resolved to
make the acquaintance Of his new
contributor, and he drove over to see
him. Whittier, then a boy of eight
cen, was summoned from the fields
where be was working, clad only in
shirt, trowscrs and straw hat, and
having slipped in at the back door 50
hat he might put his shoes and coat
on. came into the room with ''sham'
bling diGidenco. almost unable IA
speak and blushing like a maiden
The editor was a young man himself,
not nor than twenty-five or twenty
three, and the friendship that begar
with this visit lasted until death eud
eel IT, How strong and how close i
was, and how 1t was made TO sery,
the cause Of freedom, may be learned
in the life OF the great abolitionist
William Lloyd Garrison, which va
the editors name.